Can you say summer?

For two very simple reasons, this is one of our favorite dishes to serve at a dinner party.  First, it’s delicious.  Second, the work is front-loaded, so once you’ve got the rice in the pan you can leave it alone for 45 minutes or so while you regale your guests with hilarious tales (instead of having to hide away in the kitchen while they drink all of the wine without you)

First thing’s first.  This recipe calls for brown rice.  So we’re not going to masquerade it as honest-to-goodness-Spanish-to-the-core paella.  Hence the quotation marks.  But we are going to shout from the rooftops about how delicious it is.  And we will drink approximately a pitcher of sangria while we eat it because we’re being so healthy.

What can we say, it’s a wash.

This recipe serves 6-8.  Share with friends.

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 c button mushrooms, sliced

1 green bell pepper, roughly diced

14 oz diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)

2 1/2 c long grain brown rice

2 generous pinches crushed saffron threads

1 Tbsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper

3-4 c vegetable broth

3/4 c wine (white or red, your call)

1/2 lb scallops + 1/2 lb prawns (or other seafood of your choosing)

1 dozen mussels + 1 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed

1 c green peas, fresh or frozen (no need to thaw)

The How To:

1. Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in a heavy skillet (or paella pan if you’re fancy) over medium-high heat

2. Add diced onion and give them a few minutes to start  caramelizing

3. Add garlic and spices, saute until fragrant

4. Add prawns and scallops and saute until cooked, remove from pan and set aside

5. Add chopped vegetables, toss to coat with spice mixture

6. Add tomatoes, then rice, then broth, then wine.  Bring to a boil

7. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until rice is cooked (45 min to 1 hour in our experience).  Leave it alone during this time; you want to let the rice stick to the bottom of the pan (those burnt-ish bites are the best part of this whole dish).  If the liquid evaporates and the rice is still too al-dente for your liking, add a bit more broth, wine, or water.

6. About 5-10 minutes before the rice is ready, add salt and pepper to taste.  Then add your cooked seafood back to the pan.  Add peas and give it a good stir so they get mixed in.  Arrange mussels and clams (seam side down so the steam will coax them open — and discard all mussels or clams that do not open) around the outer edge of the pan.

Serve with simple mixed greens and gobs of chilled sangria.